


Uncommon Cold

by Lokisgame



Series: A Few Warm Words [4]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 13:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9898280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokisgame/pseuds/Lokisgame
Summary: Around 9:30 am and three unanswered phone calls on her landline and cell, Mulder began to worry. It wasn't like her to be late, even when all they had planed for the day was paperwork.





	

Around 9:30 am and three unanswered phone calls on her landline and cell, Mulder began to worry. He came in later than usual, blaming the alarm clock failing and his cellphone’s dead battery, rushing to work without even glancing at his machine. He thought Scully would be here already. It wasn't like her to be late, even if all they had planed for the day was paperwork.   
By 10:15 he was rushing through the parking garage, dialing Skinner's office to notify his boss he was taking a personal day.

Driving through town he forced himself to stay calm, scanning both lanes for any approaching sirens, police or ambulance, some sign of a car accident, but the streets were calm that day, nothing but the usual Monday morning traffic.  
Her car was parked in her usual spot as he crossed the street. No one answered the door. It didn't feel like something bad had happened but a sudden thought of walking in on her, while she's with someone lit up all the dark corners of his mind. Mulder swallowed hard, where did that thought come from, did he just feel a cold gust of wind brush pass him? It was ridiculous, he fished out his keys, found hers among his own with the familiarity of using it for the past six yeas, and for better or worse, let himself in.

By Scully standards, the living room was a mess. Her quilt laid abandoned in a heap on the sofa, half empty mugs surrounded by piles of crumpled tissues littered the coffee table. The kitchen sink full of weekend's worth of dishes explained a lot of things and calmed him considerably.  
A low cough sounded from the direction of her bedroom, the door slightly open.  
"Scully?" He pushed the door slowly and found her curled up in bed, pale as a sheet, hair damp with sweat.  
"Mulder" another weak cough "what are you doing here"  
"What do you think I'm doing" he crossed the room and crouched beside the bed, hand automatically resting on her forehead "you're running a fever" he tucked the bedding closer around her.  
"Yes, doctor, that is correct" she moved to get up and he helped her, pulling the sheet back around her, his hands running on different protocol than his brain at the moment. "Let me go, I need the bathroom"  
She reached for her bathrobe, but he beat her to it as well, draping it over her shoulders. She swayed a bit as she walked away but he didn't follow. Instead looked around the room, straightened the sheets, fixed the pillows and picked up a few tissues that didn't reach the trash. He brought a glass of water from the kitchen, leaving it on her bedside table with some Tylenol just in case.  
She came back and climbed into bed, pulling the comforter up to her chin.  
"Why aren't you at the office?" She asked as he sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her glassy eyes and chapped lips.  
"You didn't come in and didn't answer your phone" her cough interrupted him "I got worried"  
"It's just a cold, Mulder" she sipped some water and grimaced as it hit her undoubtedly sore throat "you can go back to the office, I'll be fine"  
"Scully, you're too sick to stay upright and I know your mom's out of town" he spoke softly, almost pleading, doing his best not to make her dig in her heels in pride and independence "so unless you tell me there's a boyfriend I don't know about whom you can call right now to drop everything and come take care of you, I'm staying."  
"Fine." Her lack of protest took him by surprise and all he could do was smile.  
"Try to get some sleep, call me if you need anything, I'll be in the next room"  
"Okay" she gave up and laid down, letting him tuck her in.

She hated hovering so he left her in peace, leaving the door open a little and went to the kitchen, to make himself some coffee and plug in his cellphone before the damned thing died a second time this morning.  
He smiled looking around, Scully was human, and like most humans when sick, all cleaning habits took a back seat. He turned on the tv, the volume turned low to a background hum, hung up his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves and went about straightening the place, picking up mugs, tissues and plates. He took care of the kitchen as well, did the dishes, dried and put them away, swiped the counters, just like she did every time he stayed for dinner.  
All these chores, felt much more natural when he did them for her. He could easily picture himself doing this every day. Being almost forty and fending for himself most of his life, he wasn't as inept at it as she might think. His biggest problem was that doing it for himself didn't feel as urgent or necessary as it would be for someone else. For her, he did feel like trying and after all this was her place, he was used to it looking a certain way.  
Around 1pm he looked in on her and finding she was still fast asleep, decided to make a quick trip to the store to pick up lunch and some groceries.

He never thought himself capable of feeling so close to anyone. The line between them was really a circle, co-workers, partners, friends. The circles closed around them, smaller with each year, surrounding them instead of dividing. Each one more comfortable than the last.  
He realized that "home's where your heart is" and all those other clichés, rang true only when the feeling was there. He went... home, and today home was where she was.  
He took the gym bag from his car, glad he packed it this morning. Ready to stay the night on the couch if things went south.

"Scully, wake up" a soft voice and cool touch on her forehead pulled her out of fitful sleep "You need to eat something."  
"Don't want to." She mumbled, his hand felt cold and she was starting to shiver.  
"Please, just some soup, so you can take your pills. Your fever is spiking" she couldn't argue with that.  
"Okay" she pushed back the covers a little, forcing herself to sit up, shivering as seemingly cold air hit her damp skin.  
He pulled up a pillow behind her back and handed her a mug. The soup was hot but not throat burning as she sipped at it slowly, and although she lost taste completely, the warmth made her nose run and in turn made it easier to breath. She sniffed and he passed her a tissue, exchanging it for the cup for a minute. Red colored the thin paper and his eyes went wide with panic.  
"Relax Mulder" though her voice was thick and tired, she made an effort to reassure him "three days of blowing your nose may result in bursting capillaries"  
"I know" he tried for unconcerned as he handed her the soup back but she shook her head 'no'. The fear was there, inside him, irrational because she saw the doctor last week and was declared cancer-free. A trigger was a trigger and it took a minute to fight it back. He handed her two pills and a glass of water. "Are you feeling nauseous?"  
Another head shake "Just cold and weak" she said as she slipped back under the covers "what time is it?"  
"Half past 6, you slept through the day" he moved to the floor next to her, tucking her back in by virtue of long arms reaching easily behind her back.  
Scully closed her eyes and pressed her face into the cool side of her pillow "My head hurts"  
"Hold on, I’ll be right back"  
Mulder got up and came back with a wet hand towel and a bowl of water. He folded himself back on the floor and placed the wet cloth over her forehead. The cool compress eased some of the tension gathering in her temples, and somehow, as he smoothed her hair away, his gentle touch made her feel a bit better. She knew she'd be too tired to this for herself if he wasn't here.  
"Better?" the smile was in his voice as she nodded against his hand.  
"Mulder, you really don't have to stay" she said, even as she was starting to shiver inside again. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt embarrassed he saw her like this, but surrendered when he gently wiped her face before wetting the towel again in cool water. This was Mulder, he never judged her, not really.  
"Save your breath Scully" the washcloth returned to her forehead with his hand "I'm not going anywhere"  
She felt too weak to fight him, so she just reached one hand from under the covers, palm up. He took it, letting her pull his hand under the sheet, hugging it in silent thank you.  
"Try to sleep" he kept stroking her head, slow and gentle.  
"Talk to me" her eyes closed.   
Changing the wet compress from time to time, sitting next to her bed on the floor of her bedroom, Mulder talked until he too dozed off.

She felt better the next morning. Not as dizzy and congested. She drank the glass of water he left for her, got up and went to the bathroom.  
Mulder was up and in the kitchen making breakfast.  
"Hi, how are you feeling?" He asked by way of greeting.  
"Better, thank you" she managed a soft smile.  
"Toast and tea?"  
"Yes, please"  
She found fresh pj's in the bathroom and brushed her teeth sitting on the edge of the bathtub, still weak but instantly more human once finished.  
Joining him in the kitchen, breakfast ready and waiting, they ate in companionable silence. The radio played in the background, a newspaper folded on the sports section between them. She looked up at him as he scanned through it and it struck her. What a guy thing to do it was, a man was staying at her apartment and, oddly enough, she didn’t mind, liked it actually.  
Mulder finished his toast and looked up, meeting her eyes with a smile.  
"You're staring at me, c'mere" he chuckled and leaned over the table reaching to press his hand first to her forehead then the back of his fingers to the side of her neck. "You're no longer burning up" he declared finally.  
"Yeah" she wanted to point out, that she had a perfectly good thermometer in the medicine cabinet, but resisted it. Instead she got up and took the tea with her to the bedroom.  
"I changed your sheets" he called after her, returning to his reading.

Chicken noodle soup, half a sandwich and a nap after lunch, seemed to work wonders for her and by late afternoon, she was ready to get up, feeling almost like herself again.  
Mulder was still there. Sprawled on her sofa wearing jeans and a t-shirt, he must have made a trip home at some point when she slept.  
"Hey" he saw her wrapped in a comforter from her bed and immediately made room "Welcome back to the land of the living room, Scully"  
She picked up a pillow, propped it against his thigh and laid down, curled up under the blanket. He was watching some documentary about tropical reefs with the sound turned low and the screen looked like a big blue saltwater aquarium, teeming with coral and colorful fish.  
She watched the fish, he watched her, hand resting around her feeling as natural as if they did that a million times.  
"Scully" Mulder spoke quietly into the blueish darkness of the room "I've got your message"

**Author's Note:**

> Companion piece to "Silent Treatment"


End file.
